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There is a great suspicion of saying that anyone, especially a child, is 'the product of destiny,' or 'formed by fate,' or 'predestined for a certain life.' I am suspicious, too, of efforts to cage children or adults in preconceived ideas of who they are or should be.

All children are born pure egoists. They perceive their needs to the exclusion of all others. Only through socialization do they learn that some forms of gratification must be deferred and others denied.

I think 'destiny' is just a fancy word for a psychological pattern.

Any kid that feels like they don't have any kind of future, whether they're on a street corner in Harlem or in a little town in Kansas where nothing happens, it's all out there for them. They can do whatever they dream or wish or see on television, or read about in the papers.

When we see the face of a child, we think of the future. We think of their dreams about what they might become, and what they might accomplish.

One seeks to equip the child with deeper, more gripping, and subtler ways of knowing the world and himself.

We cannot know the young child's personality by studying his systems of interest, for his attention is as yet too labile, his reactions impulsive, and interests unformed. From adolescence onward, however, the surest clue to personality is the hierarchy of interests, including the loves and loyalties of adult life.

One advantage to having a kid on the spectrum: they tend to be rule followers. Socially, things are harder for them than most kids.